In 2019, civil servants in Hong Kong publicly protested against their government as part of the anti-extradition bill movement. This study aims to understand how civil servants…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2019, civil servants in Hong Kong publicly protested against their government as part of the anti-extradition bill movement. This study aims to understand how civil servants formed their support to the movement despite a deep-rooted bureaucratic culture. The authors argue that moral values (e.g. impartiality and integrity) and aspirations to liberal democracy are powerful motivations that override bureaucratic values (e.g. political neutrality and political loyalty) in the context of social movement.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a protest on-site survey (n = 277), this study analyzes the relationship between civil servants’ value orientations and their political demands and actions.
Findings
Regression analyses show that civil servants’ consideration of moral values relates positively to support to investigative demands, while a more liberal orientation predicts greater support to consequential demands and action intentions. A moderation effect is found in which greater consideration of moral values attenuates the negative effect of bureaucratic values on the support to both types of demands. In addition, the two types of values interact with each other to influence support to consequential demands, which, in turn, predicts willingness to further political actions.
Originality/value
This study seizes a valuable opportunity to examine the political participation of civil servants in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong and the civil service system face tightening authoritarian controls, the findings shed light on the dynamics of moral values, bureaucratic values and liberal orientation in motivating resistance among civil servants.
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Burcu Genç and Ayşe Gül Bayraktaroğlu
This study is set out to assess the country of origin effect on Turkish consumption practices in order to provide a richer context for its formation process.
Abstract
Purpose
This study is set out to assess the country of origin effect on Turkish consumption practices in order to provide a richer context for its formation process.
Methodology/approach
The research is exploratory and interpretative in nature. It follows a qualitative design with in-depth analysis of consumption experiences by utilizing semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The research shows that country of origin effect is product specific, and when it exists, it has an essential effect on product evaluations. It reveals that the country of origin effect is intrinsically constituted with the individual perceptions of and attitudes toward brands, countries, and past experiences, and it is extrinsically constituted with socially created perceptions by media, marketplace myths, and popularity.
Originality/value
This research investigated country of origin effect in a specific context of a developing country with a qualitative methodology. Unlike the existing literature, this study analyzes consumers’ actual purchase decisions in different product categories. Country of origin effect is found to be formed by individual and societal factors.
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Nina M. Iversen and Leif E. Hem
Consumers' evaluations of brand extensions have gained considerable attention in the marketing literature. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a brand's perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers' evaluations of brand extensions have gained considerable attention in the marketing literature. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a brand's perceived global or local origin impacts evaluations of brand extensions and creates transfer effects of brand meaning. The paper conceptually characterizes the transference process and empirically tests the nature and extent of spillover effects of origin associations across multiple parent brands and extensions.
Design/methodology/approach
For the empirical testing of the conceptual model of transfer effects of origin associations we undertook a cross‐sectional consumer survey amongst a sample of 267 Norwegian respondents. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the causal relationships between the latent exogenous and endogenous variables in the conceptual model.
Findings
The present study indicates that the global and local origin framework, first introduced by Steenkamp et al. in 2003, can explain the occurrence of reciprocal transfer of brand meaning across parent brands and extensions. The paper shows that global and local origin associations operate in a manner very similar to brand associations in the transference of perceptions. It finds that distinct origin associations influence the pre‐brand image and drive the forward effect on the attitude towards the extension as well as the subsequent backward effect upon the post‐brand image of the parent brand.
Originality/value
This paper reveals for the first time that distinct origin associations can initiate spillover effects across parent brands and extensions. This study is therefore an important step towards the generalizability of main brand extension studies to other contexts such as extensions of global brands.
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I investigate the well-known educational gradient in smoking. It is well established that, at least in recent decades, people with higher levels of education are less likely to…
Abstract
I investigate the well-known educational gradient in smoking. It is well established that, at least in recent decades, people with higher levels of education are less likely to smoke and, conditional on being a smoker, are more likely to quit than are people with less education. Using longitudinal data on lifetime smoking histories, I explore whether the educational gradient changes when one accounts for differences in the amount of information smokers have about the health risks associated with smoking. At the core of the analysis is a new way to measure not only the flow of information a person receives but also a person’s stock of information in any year. I construct measures of the stock and flow of information with consumer magazine articles that discuss cigarette smoking and health. To calculate exposure, I predict individuals’ reading of particular magazines and link predicted exposure to data on individual smoking status in every year of life. The analysis sample includes many individuals who started smoking in the 1930s and 1940s – well before scientific evidence had accumulated. After replicating the education gradient in terms of smoking cessation, I show that it is mostly explained by the interaction between educational attainment and the stock of knowledge individuals possess. The findings suggest that education affects whether and how a stock of health risk information induces people to quit smoking.
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Yi‐Min Chen and Yi‐Fan Su
This paper aims to investigate the effects of country‐of‐manufacture (COM) and country‐of‐design (COD) on industrial brand equity.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effects of country‐of‐manufacture (COM) and country‐of‐design (COD) on industrial brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework to assess how international buyers evaluate industrial brand equity when confronted with a single cue and multiple cues is proposed. Data for testing the hypotheses are collected through fax, e‐mail, and online surveys of managers from 102 industrial buyers of Taiwanese fasteners. A quantitative study is undertaken of 64 respondents using PLS analysis.
Findings
The main finding is that the single‐cue framework produces more statistically significant COM and COD effects on industrial brand equity than does the multiple‐cue framework. The current results confirm previous findings that the country‐of‐origin effects based on single‐cue and multiple‐cue studies produce conflicting and inconclusive results.
Research limitations/implications
These findings underscore the findings that the impacts of COM and COD on industrial brand equity are jointly determined by study characteristics, research designs, and the nature of the dependent variable being investigated.
Practical implications
A clear implication for managers responsible for branding and communicating B2B products in international markets is to continue to create clear awareness of the offering and to provide appropriate imagery for consolidating the reputation of firms in both their internal (product) and external (country‐of‐origin) dimensions.
Originality/value
While country‐of‐origin and consumer products have been widely studied in the literature, the paper examines the effects of COM and COD on industrial brand equity in analyzing the process by which international buyers evaluate brand equity when confronted with a single cue and multiple cues.
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Saeed Rouhani, Saba Alsadat Bozorgi, Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji and Demetris Vrontis
This study addresses the gap in understanding text analytics within the service domain, focusing on new service development to provide insights into key research themes and trends…
Abstract
Purpose
This study addresses the gap in understanding text analytics within the service domain, focusing on new service development to provide insights into key research themes and trends in text analytics approaches to service development. It explores the benefits and challenges of implementing these approaches and identifies potential research opportunities for future service development. Importantly, this study offers insights to assist service providers to make data-driven decisions for developing new services and optimising existing ones.
Design/methodology/approach
This research introduces the hybrid thematic analysis with a systematic literature review (SLR-TA). It delves into the various aspects of text analytics in service development by analysing 124 research papers published from 2012 to 2023. This approach not only identifies key practical applications but also evaluates the benefits and difficulties of applying text analytics in this domain, thereby ensuring the reliability and validity of the findings.
Findings
The study highlights an increasing focus on text analytics within the service industry over the examined period. Using the SLR-TA approach, it identifies eight themes in previous studies and finds that “Service Quality” had the most research interest, comprising 42% of studies, while there was less emphasis on designing new services. The study categorises research into four types: Case, Concept, Tools and Implementation, with case studies comprising 68% of the total.
Originality/value
This study is groundbreaking in conducting a thorough and systematic analysis of a broad collection of articles. It provides a comprehensive view of text analytics approaches in the service sector, particularly in developing new services and service innovation. This study lays out distinct guidelines for future research and offers valuable insights to foster research recommendations.
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Soyoung Kim and Dawn Thorndike Pysarchik
Aims to predict purchase intentions for uni‐national and bi‐national products by examining the relationships among brand attitude, country‐of‐manufacture (COM), consumer…
Abstract
Aims to predict purchase intentions for uni‐national and bi‐national products by examining the relationships among brand attitude, country‐of‐manufacture (COM), consumer ethnocentrism, product evaluation, and product attitude. The sample included 281 students from three Midwestern universities in the USA. A model incorporating the hypothesized relationships among the variables was tested separately for the three different product categories of cameras, television sets, and sweaters. Data were analyzed by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL VII. The proposed model showed an acceptable fit to the data for all three product categories. Findings indicated that favorable attitudes toward a product significantly predicted intention to purchase the product. The relationships between ethnocentrism, brand attitude, COM, and product evaluation were product‐specific.
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Steven Graham and Wendy L. Pirie
The fact that stocks going ex‐dividend decline in price by less than the dividend amount is theoretically attributed to the differential taxation of dividend and capital gains or…
Abstract
The fact that stocks going ex‐dividend decline in price by less than the dividend amount is theoretically attributed to the differential taxation of dividend and capital gains or the differential taxation of investor groups. NYSE, Amex and Toronto Stock Exchange listed stocks, and stocks interlisted on these three exchanges, are examined to infer the tax jurisdiction of the marginal investor. The stock price changes relative to the dividends are consistent with a tax clientele effect. Further, the stock price changes are plausible given the tax rates. Ex‐dividend day behavior is different for non‐interlisted stocks on all three exchanges, suggesting each exchange has a different tax clientele. Canadian firms interlisted on US exchanges exhibit ex‐dividend day behavior consistent with the appropriate US exchange’s non‐interlisted stocks, suggesting that the marginal investors in these stocks are American.
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Po‐Young Chu, Chia‐Chi Chang, Chia‐Yi Chen and Tzu‐Yun Wang
As multinational firms seek to acquire competitive cost advantages through global sourcing, it is also important for them to develop effective strategies to reduce possible damage…
Abstract
Purpose
As multinational firms seek to acquire competitive cost advantages through global sourcing, it is also important for them to develop effective strategies to reduce possible damage of a negative country‐of‐origin (COO) effect. This study aims to examine whether brand image and evaluation mode could alleviate a negative COO effect.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2(COO)×2(brand)×2(evaluation mode) experimental design was employed in order to examine whether brand and COO effects on product evaluation vary under different evaluation modes. The data were analyzed by a repeated measure MANOVA.
Findings
The results showed that products made in favourable countries were rated higher in joint evaluation mode than in separate evaluation mode. Conversely, products made in unfavourable countries were better evaluated in separate evaluation mode than in joint evaluation mode. The results of the study are not in favour of the notion that a strong brand image could overcome the negative effect of COO.
Research limitations/implications
Conclusions of the study suggest that the COO effect plays an equally important role in consumer product evaluation for both strong and weak brands. Thus, even for a product with strong brand image, the negative consequences of COO stemming from consumersˇ unfavourable attitudes towards the manufacturing country are not likely to be completely eliminated. Moreover, to alleviate the negative impact of unfavourable COO, marketers may want to avoid direct comparison between products made in unfavourable countries with those made in favourable countries, regardless of their brand strength.
Practical implications
When marketing a product made in an unfavourable country, marketers should manage to create a selling environment facilitating a separate evaluation mode. In contrast, marketers should proactively manage to display products from favourable countries along with those from unfavourable countries in order to further enhance quality perceptions.
Originality/value
The results of the study could help marketers employ advantageous merchandizing or advertising strategies to lessen the negative effect of COO.
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Soo‐Jiuan Tan and Wai‐Ying Leong
Using an experimental design setting, this study investigates how global firms can make use of warranty strategies to influence consumers’ evaluations of hybrid products that are…
Abstract
Using an experimental design setting, this study investigates how global firms can make use of warranty strategies to influence consumers’ evaluations of hybrid products that are designed in one country and manufactured in another. The results confirm that consumers tend to perceive lower quality and higher purchase risk when evaluating products manufactured in a country perceived to be of lesser capability than its country of design (i.e., negative hybrid effects). However, global firms with products that carry such negative hybrid effects can develop appropriate warranty strategy to overcome such biases. For instance, the results show that consumers improve their assessment of the quality and purchase risk of the negative hybrid products when these products carry warranty with wider coverage and longer duration than the standard package, and when the firm providing the warranty has good warrantor reputation. Implications of these findings for international marketing and research are also discussed.